Bookbaby – Reviewed

Bookbaby describes itself as ‘a team of authors, poets, bloggers, and artists’ providing an e-book distribution network and offering publishing services to authors not looking to sell-out to ‘big publishing.’

Founded in 2011 and based in Oregon, USA, Bookbaby is a brand of the AVL Digital Group, which is a manufacturer and distributor of optical discs for independent artists, filmmakers, and businesses in the United States. Bookbaby is also a sister company of CD Baby, one of the original online distributors for independent musical started in a garage in 1998.

Over the past three years Bookbaby has become popular among independent authors for its layout and e-book conversion services and it has also added more distribution networks, including Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and many other retailers in 170 countries.

Why should an author use Bookbaby over some of its rivals?

Like many self-publishing platforms, it depends a lot on how much of the pre-publication work you can do yourself, how much of a budget you have, and if you are an author who prefers to deal with one platform rather than two or more. Using Amazon’s KDP for Kindle e-books directly or Smashwords Meatgrinder and wide distribution network comes with some drawbacks. There may be no upfront fees, but you still need the smarts to produce a completed file for upload. Amazon KDP and Smashwords do not offer design, layout tools or any kind of support services for file creation and production. Both do offer pretty thorough guides and help pages for authors to learn the process, but this may not be every author’s bag, and what’s more, it takes some skills and time to prepare e-book files.

Indeed, I know many authors, who opt to use Bookbaby’s services to prepare, design, format, check and convert e-book files, and then take the finished files directly to Amazon KDP, Smashwords and Kobo.

Bookbaby offers three e-book publishing packages(Free, Standard and Premium) with a range of options and prices. To use any of them, you must first sign up for a Bookbaby account.

The basic entry-level package is free, but authors will be required to supply a retail-ready ePub file before the e-book can be made available to Bookbaby’s distribution partners.

Phone support in addition to email support supplied with basic package

The Standard package is designed for authors requiring some help and adds the benefit that the author does not have to worry about the creation and conversion of a professional retail-ready e-book file. Ultimately the author still has to go through the checklist and make any alterations necessary to create a finalised file. The proof is not sent to the author, but instead the author is directed to an online link where the proof is held. Bookbaby does warn that subsequent reconversions to correct editing or typo errors may incur additional charges.

The Premiumpackage costs $249 and means that Bookbaby will handle every aspect of your e-book from file submission, formatting, conversion and distribution. Bookbaby will not take a cut on net sales (Free and Standard packages allow Bookbaby to take a 15% cut on net sales). The Premium package additionally provides the following:

60 days of website hosting at Hostbaby (Hostbaby is a sister brand of Bookbaby and already offers 30 days free on sign up, so you are simply getting an extra month!)

Bookbaby offers discounts if authors purchase multiple packages at once. You can find details on those discounts here.

I would advise all authors to be careful on making file amendments after the initial conversion (regardless of the chosen package) as corrections with Bookbaby can accrue additional fees and mount up quickly.

Author Payments, Pricing and Reports

Bookbaby pays authors dependent on the payment ceiling set by the author (minimum payment setting is $10), and on the Monday after that ceiling was reached. Payments are made direct deposit (US bank account only), cheque or via PayPal.

“Once your eBook is up for sale at the sites you have selected, it will take approximately 45 to 60 days after the end of the first fiscal month for any sales of your eBook to show up in your BookBaby account. This varies by store, and depends entirely on how quickly stores report their sales to BookBaby. As soon as we get sales reports from the retailers they are immediately imported into your account. Then, when your account has reached the payout amount that you have selected, we will automatically send out a payment to you via the method that you have selected on the following Monday.”

Bookbaby sales reports are available from the dashboard of the author’s account between 45-60 days after the month of the book sale. The author can also set the retail price of his/her book, as low as free, provided the retailer allows free e-books in their catalogue.

ISBNs

Bookbaby do supply ISBNs to authors at a cost of $19, but the ISBN will list Bookbaby as the publisher of original, while the author retains copyright and other subsidiary rights to the work. Authors can use their own ISBNs, but it is worth noting that this option is not available in the basic Free package. Free can mean lots of different things when it comes to choosing a self-publishing platform, but more often than not, the author is paying for ‘free’ somewhere—either through the overall cost of a package or by limitations on what can and can’t be done.

Bookbaby Printing

While most authors will associate the company with e-book services, Bookbaby also offers a printing and binding service to authors and small publishers. This service is also supported with additional cover and interior layout services (cover design from $299 and interior from $399). Alternatively, authors can supply print-ready files, so long as the files conform to Bookbaby’s specifications(templates available for download). Please note that Bookbaby do not distribute printed books to retail channels.

Printing and binding is available in various trim sizes (soft and hardback), but you really need to order at least 100 books to make this at all viable. For example, a 200 page softback, perfect bound, with colour cover and black and white interior will cost $79 for just 1 unit. Examples of printing cost were taken using Bookbaby’s online instant quote calculator. The least quantity that can be ordered is either 1 or 25 books. Ordering 25 of the same example book will cost a total of $219 + shipping. Again, that’s pretty pointless at nearly $9 a book. Ordering 100 books would cost $680 + shipping, with a unit cost of $6.80—about twice the price for the same specification book direct from Lightning Source or CreateSpace. I’d expected an order of 500 units to yield at least a unit price close to what LSI and CreateSpace would offer. Forget it—500 books = $6.62 unit cost: 1000 books = $5.09 unit cost. Now that’s just having a laugh!

I appreciate the printing services augment the e-book services and there are combined e-book and print combination discounts available, but now I can see why Bookbaby include that custom-print discount on the Standard and Premium e-book packages. Strangely, we then get this Low Price Promisethat Bookbaby will match any quote from a rival (reputable) US printer.

“Never fear about overpaying for your printed books again. BookBaby now guarantees its prices are the lowest around.”

Like hell they are!

“Here’s what our Low Price Promise means: We will match any written quote on an identical book from any reputable U.S. printer. It’s that simple.

“Our prices are super low already. But we’re rolling out the Low Price Promise to protect you. Every once in a while we hear from a customer who has bought from another company to save a few bucks, and ended up unhappy with their purchase. We don’t want that to happen to you! So now, thanks to our LPP, there’s absolutely no reason to ever have to compromise between price and quality. With BookBaby, you get both.”

It begs the question why it inflates print costs so much in the first place! I suspect not enough authors are challenging Bookbaby on their print quotes.

Bookbaby Website & Navigation

The Bookbaby website is smooth, clean and easy to navigate. I had little trouble finding answers to questions I had and the FAQ page is detailed and very transparent for information. The website also features a number of free guides, helpful blog articles and resource pages on everything from layout to marketing. I could find little fault with the Bookbaby website and many rival companies like Smashwords could take a leaf out of their book!

Bookbaby has established itself as a major player in a relatively short space of time as an e-book self-publishing platform. In a highly competitive market, that is impressive and it offers the best of many worlds—all services in one place and a strong distribution network. I’d like to see better and real marketing services, but I suspect that is not where the company sees itself going. There is a good mix of hands-on and hands-off packages and services, and many of these can be purchased individually. However, I’m less convinced about Bookbaby’s print services and a claimed Low Price Promise on matching rival print quotes. Regarding author payments, yes, Bookbaby pay on a weekly basis if you constantly hit your payment ceiling set, but your cut is always going to fare better when you load an e-book file and distribute you book directly with a retail channel. Payments from Bookbaby are paid to authors from net sales they receive. It’s a case of balancing the time and effort you put in to prepare your e-book against what you have to pay upfront, and ultimately, how many books you need to sell to recoup any upfront cost.

CONS—Payments made on net sales from distribution channels, no downloadable proof on some packages, only email support for entry level package, very limited marketing support (more guide and advice), print mark-up leading to non-competitive print costs (regardless of claimed Low Price Promise), no distribution on print books, author ISBN cannot be used on entry-level package, and file corrections/amendments can lead to mounting additional fees.

RATING: 7.4/10

My rating reflects Bookbaby as an e-book platform. Frankly, I’m not sure why it went into print broker services, and if I was to take this fully into account, I’d actually knock that rating back to 7.0 or 6.9, at least.

If you found this review or article helpful, but you’re still looking for a suitable self-publishing provider to fit your needs as an author, then I’m sure I can help. As a publishing consultant and editor of this magazine, I’ve reviewed and examined in detail more than 150 providers throughout the world like the one above. As a self-published and traditionally published author of nine books, I understand your needs on the path to publication and beyond. So, before you spend hundreds or thousands, and a great deal of your time, why not book one of my personally tailored and affordable consultation sessions today? Click here for more details.

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I loaded three of my existing books with Bookbaby and although I have yet to see the sales (3 months has not passed) I found them incredibly helpful (I am really not good with uploads etc) and very prompt in replying.

I am thrilled to find a current article regarding BookBaby as I look at all my options. Your article seems well informed and tends to match some of the older reviews I read in the past, with updates for print. Thank you!

No, use Kindle Direct Publishing for digital. Bookbaby is the worst. The worst!! You can never really be sure that the sales numbers posted are correct. When you ask for verification or tell them you will call Amazon, they tell you it doesn’t matter, that Amazon will only refer you back to them. Horrible.

Ellen, I myself am starting to suspect that bookbaby is under-reporting sales. I have two books. One marketed to a wider audience which was selling on average 200 copies a month for the past year. I put out a second book, a more niche product – which sold maybe a third of that (as expected).
In May, I updated my first book to a 2nd edition. It’s even more popular now based on my reader/client feedback along with Amazon sales rank and web presence. This book consistently ranks low (good). My niche book on the other hand, ranks relatively high and has much less web presence and feedback/popularity.My earning’s this month were reversed according to BB. My niche book sold a couple hundred copies, and my more popular 2nd edition book only sold 10 copies on Amazon!! There is no way the niche book is outselling my main title. In fact, that 10 copy month, it hit an Amazon rank of lower than 4000. Only ten copies sold? And my niche book (same category) consistently ranked 100,000 to 200,000 sold more than ten times as much? Something really fishy going on.

The only thing I can think of is I lost sales when switching from 1st to 2nd edition, but that was a month prior, and there was good web presence regarding the switch to 2nd edition after that.

I wonder if anyone else has had similar experiences? I’m coming out with a third book in the series, and I don’t know that I’ll be going with bookbaby this time.

I agree with ellen. DO NOT use Bookbaby unless you can’t manage to format your own writing. The fee is exorbitant and not even exact. I put in one book… guessing how many pages I had and likely overestimating and they took my fee like I was right. The next one I guess much lower than it probably was and they didn’t adjust it either. But that aside for the over $500 dollars I paid I earned $10 in revenue. Most of the ebook sellers they list with are so obscure no one goes there. Amazon if you go with them directly will at least try to generate reviews and interest in your book. Take my advice and save your money. Do a publisher is commission based. They will want the money flow so will work to get sales. Bookbaby gets paid up front by you then they are done. Their little book they give you to generate reviews and interest is a big waste of time and nothing but formatting will be what you get for your fees.

I used BB and it has been a terrible experience. I put right their mistakes and fought with the design team on a daily basis for 6 weeks. That is daily. In the end I received my 100 books that were in order but I have found out since that the books that are being sent out are not the books that I signed off on. For what it is worth I will never use them again. EVER. Save yourself a lot of grief and go elsewhere. It is a shame as they have the kernel of a good business. But until they take ownership and responsibility for the work that is undertaken on your behalf they will always fail.

I almost went with BookBaby last year but I was surprised they do NOT provide 1099 tax form to their publisher clients for royalties. When I addressed this with them, they indicated they are only processing payments. This is a problem.

They are somewhat helpful during the publishing process. After that-forget it. The payout system is haphazard at best. You can wait for over 2 months for a single penny for sales from 3 months prior. And if you call to inquire? Forget it. I could almost hear the phone slamming in my ear. Never ever again. I’d go to Amazon KDP if I could do it over. And maybe I will. Horrible. Terrible. Very rude.

You can delist from them and relist with KDP once they take it down. That’s what I’m doing now. I know my books are good but Bookbaby doesn’t do anything to help generate interest. It’s tough to pay fees for nothing but formatting and not even good formatting. They didn’t bother to ask if I wanted to use justification or anything on my first book so it needs some work… needless to say I learned better on my second but I should have waited until I could see if there was any profit in going with Bookbaby before putting another book through them.

Stay away from Bookbaby!! I used them to publish a book in ebook format only and have had nothing but problems. They take forever to payout royalties. (And I mean forever–I am still waiting for sales made 4 months ago.) Their customer service is absolutely the worst I have ever experienced anywhere, anytime. They pretty much tell you to go fuck yourself in nicer words when you call with a question (like, when are you going to post royalties? Or, why is my manuscript still riddled with mistakes when I paid to have corrections made?)
The benefit of having a wider distribution market isn’t really a benefit. My book has been up for over 2 years and 98% of my sales come from Amazon. I was going to pull the book from Bookbaby because I was so tired of everything when the book was signed by a publisher. Now I’m just marking days. I will be thrilled, thrilled!!, when I will no longer have to hear a nasty snarky voice at the end of the phone when I call with a question. Bye-bye Bookbaby.

I used BookBaby to publish my art-related book. There were a lot of color plates, but the book was modestly sized according to their recommendation (9×7). Due to the color, it was required to have a very high price so that it would make on demand printing worthwhile to BookBaby. OK, fine. I paid for the ISBN and distribution. It soon appeared on Amazon but BookBaby did not deliver on the on-demand printing. After all my effort and expense, not one book was printed. Eventually Amazon put an ‘unavailable’ tag on it. That’s that. No books sold. No royalties. No nothing. I can’t even get a response from BookBaby as to WHY. I’m not sure I can get a refund, even though I’ve asked. Still waiting. I fielded many email complaints from potential buyers. It was an incredible bust and a waste of time and money. That’s my experience, anyway.

I am about to self publish a Hard Copy Full color Children’s book. I have researched several companies. The more I search the more confused I get. BookBaby is not the most expensive, however, they are the second most expensive I found. I do have a personal rep at BookBaby. Other companies just have contact by email. What? I’m going to publish a book and I can ONLY get answers from emails? For me to make any profit with bookBaby I have to sell my Children’s book for 22.95. That seems high for a kids book. Other cheaper companies, offer a better return, but have no personal contact with you. Then the issue of Wholesale. If I give the standard 50% discount, it will cost me -1.65. So disgusted and confused! Any help on the best self publishing company to use where I get personal attention, distribution and can not be in the neg with the cost? – TRACY

Tracy…
What was your final decision and how did it go with Bookbaby? The description of your Hard copy full color children’s book is what I have just completed and yet I’m struggling to make a decision on whether to go with a local printing press company or bookbaby…Apparently, BB has started a new coupon deal so we can get our prices down to 16-18 dollar range if we choose and we simply forfeit our own royalties for more volume. I’m so confused on what to do…any advice?

I am sad to say, that after many years of dealing with the publishing industry I have come to this conclusion. That unless you are part of the inner circle, that is, a friend of a friend, or you have a personal contact who is your, brother, mother, father or sister in the industry who can carry it forward on your behalf then do not bother. In addition, P.O.D. DOES NOT live up to what the hype says. The only ones that will make money are the P.O.D. companies themselves. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO MAKE YOU A DIME. You have all been warned.

Mick,
I am a ghostwriter (I am finishing my 7th book) and would like to be able to recommend “my” authors to someone very familiar with self-publishing. I call a halt at anything to do with getting their books published. I just provide a professionally proofread manuscript and the names of a cheap self-publisher I researched and an expensive one (who handles everything from soup-to-nuts) as well…but I’d like to be able to pass on the name (and expertise) of someone like you who has done all the research. Can you give me an idea of your costs for consultation? And perhaps you’d give me a group rate for referring everyone to you? Or maybe cut me a deal when I finish my OWN manuscript? From one Irish person to another, I’d like to have one person on whom I can rely for such info. Are you my guy? Thanks, Kitt Walsh (Kathleen Brigid Walsh)

I am a book baby customer (that is about all I am) that enlisted their services to e-publish my novel Redemption At Purgatory. The only contact I ever get from them is when they offer a “special” on print book services where they will knock it off a few buck$ if I respond in a most ridicules short period of time. Never mind they are offering that to everyone old or new. I only contacted them once in over a year for an answer to a question and then a question about something that kept coming up in the live chat window over and over again. They were terribly rude and never answered the questions directly. In fact three different people were rude. I also enlisted their services for a book cover. They just cut and paste existing pictures in a data base they have and if you do not pick their choice it is up to you to peruse thousands of data banked images. This was not clear to me that they were not doing a bit of art work. When I asked for a refund they refused and I had to pick from really meager images. Anyway, I wish I had checked your site first because I would probably have been more careful had I been able to easily compare and contrast the different self-publishing services you report on. Thank you and I just had to report my feelings as book baby customer.

I’m nearly done with my first book and my head is spinning from all the information about Bookbaby, Createspace, etc. Do you have a recommendation as to which if the best? I’m planning it to be an ebook, in print, and POD. I like that Bookbaby offers a lot of assistance. I don’t see the same level of assistance, or cost, from others. I’ve been researching so and they each have pros and cons. Thank you for help feedback.

Published author, having trouble doing ebooks for iBook and amazon, need assistance, investigating bobby, not sure I like them, any ideas for people or companies that will format for ebook sites, maybe one tie charge? Need help.

BookBaby doesn’t appear to send out 1099s to publishers and it concerns me. My accountant said it doesn’t matter for me as long as I report revenue, but it does make me question their accounting. http://blog.bookbaby.com/2016/02/1099-misc-form-bookbaby-author/ . Most of the other listed services follow traditional US accounting practices but BookBaby contends they sell by consignment.

I am astounded to see so many negative comments about Bookbaby – but I’m also so unbelievably happy to FINALLY have found other people with just some of the HORRENDOUS PROBLEMS, LIES, CON TRICKS AND OUTRIGHT CHRONICALLY POOR, GROSSLY INCOMPETENT AND TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOUR I’VE EXPERIENCED FROM BOOKBABY! And let me assure all of you that this goes all the way to the top; as I also had extensive rows, arguments and very personal problems with the BB boss, Spatz, who totally defies belief in his attitude, professionalism and utter open contempt he has for paying customers! All I can tell you is BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THESE PEOPLE! My book was admittedly complex in the fitness field with many fonts, tables, charts and a fairly complex design layout! Nonetheless, the content is of very high quality and it was previously reviewed by professional Kindle UK publishers as a potential best seller! BB boast of having such a professional conversion team; in fact they boast of having just about the best of everything! NOT SO! This is a long story….so here’s the short version! After months of back and forth correcting 1000’s of constant errors in the conversion process – each time getting worse – and then when some errors were fixed…others were created where there weren’t any originally! I was going insane and getting nowhere! I knew what the solution was and stated this several times on how to finally get the book done! NO RESULT! Then the boss man himself enters the scene and promptly pulls the plug saying that my book can only be converted as a FIXED book and not a reflowable! This is horse sh–! Even though the book has tables and charts, it also has about 160,000 words! SO IT HAS TO BE REFLOWABLE – and a year later it has now been converted successfully as a reflowable in both mobi and epub! But Spatz cut the book insisting that it was a fixed version! What the hell does he know? If this were the case, which it’s now been proven 100% NOT to be so….WHY then did his own conversion team who we were constantly told are some of the best in the world, not say the same as him…or even advise me during some months that this was the case? They didn’t! Not one of them! How come he, the boss, claimed it was a fixed conversion, but his own team never mentioned this? Because their work was atrocious, appalling and grossly sub-standard – and if you Spatz, and you now know me very well, want to argue this in court, I’m ready when you are my friend…and you know I’m not a guy to play with concerning the written word or the law! My dad was a top lawyer (attorney) and I also studied law! Plus, I’ve got ALL your pathetic proofs and copies of the horrendous work your great team produced for me! Finally, I’ve just been back and spoken to the man again about the tax system for non-US citizens, and the young lady and guy who previously made references to this tax subject above in this same blog are RIGHT! BB is the only company that sells books on “consignment” – whereas all the others are obliged by US law to retain 30% – not in taxes, but to cover the potential retention of taxes up to this amount! I tried to get this info from their customer department, but the girl was intentionally vague and damned rude when I questioned her – and then the boss gives you the run-around with even more vague and imprecise cloud-covering BS! He’s also damned rude – and when pushed on these matters – drops all etiquette and doesn’t even use one’s name in the intro or his email signing-off! Boo-hoo! Reminds me of a spoilt brat child that becomes irritated and rude when you don’t play his game or say what he wants you to say! God know what happens to US tax payments when and if BB pays out; and those who are sure that their book sales are not accurate….well, you’re right on the money….or in this case….you’re not on the money because you don’t know where the rest has gone! I’ve heard this time and time again from so many different sources! My book has finally been converted as per my original; and yes, it was complicated and others also failed until I gradually got it done correctly! So, it was possible….and yes, it is REFLOWABLE AND NOT FIXED – but the price has been huge in time, money and stress! I think it will be a best seller, simply because I can write (said with great humility!), and I know my fitness and exercise physiology better than most – and that’s why one of my global fitness projects for exercise machine design technology…might also have some application for NASA and muscle atrophy (wastage) in zero gravity! I’m a hard, but nice guy…black belt judo, rugby and tennis pro etc, and with a pretty good education; but my experience with BB….I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy! BE CAREFUL!

I used Create Space last year for my formatting, cover design and editing. I was very happy with their services, but this year they no longer provide any of these professional services. Has anyone heard of the formating experts?They say that they can get your book ready for submission to Create Space.

So what services do they provide, Create Space that is? I am about to plunge into the unbelievably complicated world of trying to get a book published without spending a fortune. I currently have four books ready for the firing line but am a complete novice. The more I read, the more confused I get. I want someone to take me by the hand and guide me through the process. I want their hand on my shoulder, not my wallet. Any additional help would be appreciated.

Authors Beware
My POD experience with Book Baby has been terrible. While the formatting and cover design have been satisfactory, the distribution has been the opposite. My book went online for pre-order at Amazon, B&N and other sites around July 1. Shipping was to be July 21. However, five weeks later, the book has been listed as “temporarily out of stock.” Amazon and B&N finally have it posted as available now at the end of August.
When I questioned Book Baby, they pointed the finger at Amazon. Amazon, of course, told me to talk to Book Baby. When I continued to question Book Baby, even to writing the President, Steven Spatz, I got no help. Everyone was going to “check.” Weeks have gone by with no communication. I never did hear from the President.
In addition, I learned that to order my own books through Book Baby (for book signings, etc.) will cost about $8/book. When I worked with Create Space on my other books, they were only about $4.
At this point, I plan to get my files from Book Baby and turn them over to another company for POD printing and distribution. I will not use Book Baby in the future.

BookBaby did a fantastic job on my book. As a Professor, world traveler and Educated at college level by the British, I expected those working on my book to be as professional as I am. Well, BookBaby met all my demands, and produced an excellent book. This was not an easy task because the book has comments in Swahili, French, German and Arabic. This meant, that they had to pay close attention to any insights I had to provide. Well, they did an excellent job. It took me two years to get this book to a publishable state because many publishers tried to make corrections to languages used, which they did not understand and ruined the manuscript. Additionally, it was very difficult to make some publishers understand that an autobiography cannot skip any events, because they lead to the next, and without cohesive rhythm, it is very difficult to maintain continuity. If you think you can remove a portion of the manuscript–particularly in an autobiography, and still make sense,you are off track and should be writing fiction. Worse yet, it becomes even more impossible when the author has a four-year degree in Professional Writing under the British system. However, BookBaby excelled in all these tasks. I am also grateful to them for improving the cover, by changing to glossy as opposed to mat, which enhanced the cover’s overall attraction.
Prior to coming to BookBaby, I had WASTED nearly two years working with self publishers who were not nearly as adept as they are at BookBaby. Save yourself two years of frustration, Go to BookBaby first.